| transitive verb |
| Definition:
A verb that has to have a direct object to complete its meaning. It expresses an action that is passing over to something else. Note: As opposed to an intransitive verb which has no direct object and which expresses an action that does not pass over to something else. |
| Example:
She bought a dog
(In the above, bought is a transitive verb and dog is the direct object.) |
| Etymology: The term derives from the Late Latin transitivus, which literally means "that may pass over (to another person)." |
| Oxford English Dictionary: Its first citation in this sense is from 1590: "A verbe transitiue … is such … as passeth ouer his signification into some other thing, as when I say, ‘I loue God’." (J. Stockwood Rules Constr. 64) |